Nhat Hanh is the author of more than 100 books on Buddhism, which have sold more than a million copies worldwide.

The talk at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, titled "Our True Agenda -- Tending to the Space Inside," will explore how mindfulness practice and meditation can bring about inner peace and affect the people around you, the environment, and the caffeinated, multi-tasking world of our times.

Nhat Hanh is making this rare appearance as he recovers from a bout with lung infection. Recently recovered, this will be the first time he is speaking publicly in Southern California in two years.

Nhat Hanh was exiled from his native Vietnam for helping to lead a non-violent resistance movement opposing the U.S.-Vietnam War, and calling for reconciliation and ceasefire between the warring parties. In 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Since his days in Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh has been a leading proponent of "engaged Buddhism," a way of life and a spiritual practice that works actively in the world to relieve suffering.